Not "public charter", say "semi-private school". Not "merit pay", say "test score pay."

[madfloridian]

A teacher declares war of words against education reformers' rhetoric. This was posted at the Perimeter Primate.

That's exactly right. Just like the GOP took over the words like "liberal" and made them so uncomfortable that our own party runs from them....the "reformers" have taken over the language of education.

We Should Be Careful With Our Words

..."Charter schools are private entities funded by public money. They are semi-private. Look up charter in the dictionary. It's defined as "an official document in which certain rights are given by the government to a business." "Public charter" is an oxymoron. Certainly there are some charters that are wonderful neighborhood schools, but schools of this kind could be—and have been—replicated under the traditional public school model. Charter schools have been agents of destruction in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. A parent there put it best when she said, "They stole our public schools, and they stole our democracy while we were out of town." Here in Oakland they are stealing our public education and our democracy and we don't even have the excuse of being out of town. It's not only particular charters here and there that are failing. The entire charter movement has failed, whether you call them public or not."

..."Just as is the case with charter schools, all evidence indicates that the value-added model (latest study coming from Vanderbilt, September this year) is not effective in raising students' test scores. So even if we start with the loaded assumption that higher scores on bubble-in, high-stakes, once-a-year tests somehow equates with education, test score pay does not improve the education of our children. Yet test score pay continues to be pushed. Even within the text of Measure L the adjective "effective" was inserted before "teachers." Why? I consult my dictionary again and I find that "effective" is defined as "bringing about the result wanted." Now isn't that interesting? What is the result wanted? That was never explained by the people who—at the very last minute inserted the word "effective" in the ballot language of Measure L. Did that word lead to the loss of the measure? It was certainly a factor, and when a vote is so close, any factor could have been the difference. The fact of the matter is the value-added model has no merit, whatever new name for it you come up with. In addition, people in positions of power in education shouldn’t throw around terms like “effective” without clearly defining what they mean.

I'm not a billionaire TV personality. I'm not a failed Chicago schools chief turned Education Tsar. I'm not a millionaire motion picture director. I'm not even an OUSD director. But I have been a classroom teacher for nearly a decade now and I'm getting very tired of buzzwords and schemes like public charter, merit pay, value-added, effective, and rigor (which I bet you didn't know actually means "great strictness or harshness"). My brother was in the Air Force for 6 years. We've had lots of conversations about euphemisms (“blue-on-blue mishap,” “insurgent,” etc.). I find it particularly offensive that some people who purport to have the best interests of our children at heart use words in the same deceitful way as people who are in the business of killing.

If they want to use words in the same way as those who wage war, then I declare a war of words on them. Every time I hear "public charter" I will say "you mean semi-private school." Every time I hear "achievement gap" I will say "you mean poverty gap, or funding gap." Every time I hear "merit pay" I will say "you mean test score pay." Every time I hear "value-added model" I will say "you mean business model." Every time I hear "rigor" and every time I hear "effective" I will ask "What do you mean?" and when they give me their answer, then I will say, "I think you need to pick a more accurate word."

:applause:

I know just how that teacher feels.

[FLyellowdog]

1. Instead of "idiots", say "damned idiots". eom

edited for quotation marks

It looks better that way.

[laughingliberal]

2. K & R

:toast:

[blondeatlast]

3. Word, word, word and k/r eleventy-squared!!! Will do. nt

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[disillusioned73]

5. Kick...

for all teacher "apologists":dem:

[Starry Messenger]

6. k&r

[Brickbat]

7. K and fucking R. This is brilliant, and I will incorporate all of these.

[progressoid]

8. +1 brazillion

[Dinger]

23. + Infinity!

:headbang:

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Outstanding

We can control the message when we control the vocabulary.

[DireStrike]

10. "Semi-private" sounds stupid.

Just keep calling them Charter schools.

You will have two audiences - those who care about the difference between public charter schools and charter schools, and those who don't. The vast majority of people belong to that second camp.

If you are debating someone who wants to press the issue, or in some other situation, by all means use the more correct term ("semi private"), and take the opportunity to explain.

If you reframe something, you have to use a punchy term! You can't just cobble together some phrase. It has to resonate.

[madfloridian]

12. I disagree. I think semi-private sets up a new line of thought.

And I am quite aware most people simply don't care about our country's tradition of public schools.

And they don't care about the destruction of public sector jobs if it takes too much effort on their part...or too much deep thinking.

[Gabi Hayes]

14. hey...seen this article about what happened when KIPP teachers tried, under the established

law, tried to unionize?

god forbid those greedy, obstructive teachers try to get something resmembling reasonable standards for being fired, other than the whim of the principal, among other outlandish demands

http://dailycensored.com/2010/06/18/unionizing-charter-schools-bashing-teacher-unions-and-really-all-unions-how-the-right-wing-makes-us-hate-organized-working-people/

nice article title, hey?

clearly a POV, but the basic facts are indisputable:

It all started in January of 2009 when 16 of the 20 teachers at KIPP AMP Charter School (AMP means Always Mentally Prepared) in Crown Heights Brooklyn, New York, informed their co-principals that they were organizing themselves into a union and seeking official recognition for their efforts from the Public Employees Relation Board in New York. The teachers signed a ‘card’ in favor of a union at the school. Such a “card check” majority is all that’s required under New York State law for public employees to unionize; some Democrats in Congress support passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make card-check, as opposed to the current system of secret-ballot elections, the law of the land for unionizing workplaces. In the interim, each state has their own legislation regarding bargaining unit formation and in New York only a majority of teachers are needed to sign union authorization cards in order to be identified as a bargaining unit.

In a letter delivered to co-principals, Jeff Li and Melissa Perry, of the Brooklyn KIPP charter, the teachers said that they had decided to unionize in order to secure ‘teacher voices’ and respect for the work of teachers in their school. In their notice to KIPP administrators, they said they desired:

“to ensure that the motto of ‘team and family’ is realized in the form of mutual respect and validation for the work that is done each day” (Casey 2009).

KIPP AMP teachers also said they believe that the high staff turnover at the school had harmed their efforts to build a positive and consistent school culture for their students.....

[LWolf]

21. You could call them faux-public schools.

Or you could call them pseudo-public schools.

Or stealth private schools.

[madfloridian]

24. I like your ideas.

:hi:

[LWolf]

28. Really, there's much to choose from, isn't there?

:hi:

[Radical Activist]

11. Mentioning the existence of non-profit public charters is now thoughtcrime.

[Gabi Hayes]

13. how very (purposely ironic?) Orwellian of you! following in the proud tradition of Feinberg,

Duncan, Gates, Broad, and myriad other privatizing 'pioneers,' who just can wait to feast at the last public trough outside SS

perhaps if you didn't try selling disingenuous, doublespeak-y claptrap like that, you might be taken seriously

cite ONE instance here of what you claim

cite ONE instance where anyone has denied the existence of non-profit charter schools

the POINT is that FOR-profit charters are the wave of the future, that corporations are paying HUGE consulting fees to learn how to take advantage of the apparently limitless investment opportunities unfolding in the burgeoning privatization climate

do you deny the existence thereof?

or are you just being coy and trying to muddy the waters?

thanks for playing, though

[Hannah Bell]

17. sure. because teachers = the rulers of the country & the world. lame, lame, lame.

[Luminous Animal]

26. Non-profit does not = public and non-profit does not mean that no money is being made.

It merely means that all the money is being spent or earmarked for future spending. I could start a non-profit tomorrow and give a nice big fat salary to myself, give a nice big fat salary to my husband for his accounting services, pay oodles of money for my neighbor's educational system, and buy a building and have the public pay the mortgage by renting that building to the district. Many publicly funded private charters are run by non-profit corporations.

Thought crime. Hahahahahahaha!!!! That's a good one.

[madrchsod]

15. journalism and the power of words.....

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/05/201052574726865274.html

[madfloridian]

16. Excellent article.

:hi:

Thanks for sharing.

[jpgray]

18. Euphemisms should make for suspicion, everywhere they appear

[madfloridian]

19. Enough of that false equivalency.

We need to start controlling some messaging.

I have had it with the both sides do it stuff.

[EFerrari]

20. Great idea!

K&R

[Dinger]

22. Hell Yeah! K & R!

Damn right my friend!:)

[madfloridian]

25. Not "value added"...say "business model"

Teachers have to learn to speak out more firmly.

[pattmarty]

27. I think we should call what it is, privatization. We should make the..........

............word "privatize" a dirty word to the American people just as the Republicans did with the word "liberal". Because "privatize" is what the RW wants to do to EVERY govt program in the US.

[laureloak]

29. Charter schools are public, not private.

[Starry Messenger]

31. No, they are not. Thanks for playing.

[Luminous Animal]

32. Charter schools are private entities funded with public monies.

[MattBaggins]

34. Redefining astronaut to include anyone who has ever launched

a model rocket does not actually make them astronauts.

[Starry Messenger]

43. +1000

I'll remember that line. :thumbsup:

[montanto]

35. Said the person who knows nothing about it.

[blondeatlast]

41. And which charter school did you attend?

You are wrong.

[blondeatlast]

42. Please explain with proper citations. nt

[radhika]

30. How about 'Private Sector Carve-out' ?

Feels a little more adversarial to me, which I favor. or for pay, 'NCLB Performance Fee',

[trud]

33. Not "educator" say teacher

I've noticed the self-styled "educators" in RI, who retire in their 40s and 50s with fat pensions and nearly free health care and live off the rest of the RI taxpayers, while at the same time turning out semi-illiterates, nowadays have stopped calling themselves teachers. Very few of the "educators" are fit to carry books for the teachers I had growing up.

[Dinger]

37. You're New Aren't You? (nt)

[madfloridian]

38. Good teachers won't want to go to RI where they fire whole schools.

They will be afraid of whole schools being fired and no job security.

[sulphurdunn]

46. The Lord came to Bill (the semi-literate)

who had just retired and lost his pension and health coverage because of corporate downsizing. The Lord said to Bill, "Bill. Your neighbor Bob has worked 30 years. He just retired and has a modest pension and so-so health coverage. Would you like the same?"

"Hell no!" cried Bill. "I want Bob to loose his pension and health insurance too."

[sulphurdunn]

36. Lottery Schools.

Cherry Picker Schools.
Multiple Choice Schools.
Jim Crow Schools.
Hedge Fund Schools.
Corporation Schools.
Wall St. Schools
Segregation Schools.
Investment Opportunity Schools.

[Dinger]

39. Good List :)

[midnight]

40. K&R for turning around "poverty gap" and creating equality to

resources for all chldren's education.

[alturn]

44. Out with the lies!

We need more teachers to be like this one and rise up. Too many teachers look the other way while the funds for their salaries are diverted to developers and corporations. They put too much faith in their often corrupt union bosses who only look at making money, not protecting the profession.

"All the changes taking place in the world are creating awareness in people, who have decided that enough is enough; they have a right to be free and to enjoy life. They no longer want to be conditioned by politics, religion or commercialization.
Life has to be balanced, and we have to be aware of the Self in the heart."
- World Teacher Maitreya April 1990 Share International magazine

[defendandprotect]

45. Why aren't Charter schools simply "private" ....???

Don't get the "semi-private" .... ?

Don't say the POOR -- say the IMPOVERISHED!!

:)